The Politicians Who Play Video Games
Video gaming has undergone an image overhaul in recent years. There was a time when there were a lot of stereotypes surrounding it. When people thought of gamers, they pictured teenage boys sitting alone in darkened rooms, surrounded by World of Warcraft figurines and their collection of Pokémon cards.
While there’s obviously nothing wrong with belonging to these demographics or matching that description, it made the hobby seem more niche than it was. There have always been players from all walks of life, but to the mainstream media, it was as though many of them didn’t exist. They were underrepresented, and this put off a lot of budding players.
Today, all of that has changed. It’s now much more acceptable to cite video gaming as a pastime when people ask about your interests, and this has made the hobby far more inclusive. It means, for example, that by 2021, 45 percent of gamers in the United States identified as women according to https://www.statista.com/.
Much of this change has been driven by popular figures vocalizing their interest in video games – many of them employed in serious and high-brow positions. This has helped people to see the hobby through a less infantile and more mainstream lens.
Interestingly, some of these individuals occupy the very highest positions in our society. We’re talking about politicians. In this article, we look at just a few of the important figures who’ve been vocal about their love of video gaming.
Emmanuel Macron
The French head of state may not be the first thing that pops into your mind when you picture a gamer. However, according to this article from https://win.gg, Emmanuel Macron is an outspoken fan of video games and the French eSports organization Team Vitality. While up against Marine Le Pen during the last election season, he was spotted doing press in a team hoodie bearing the French flag.
One of Macron’s pledges was that he wanted to make the country the video game hub of Europe, with plans to host the League of Legends World Championship in France in 2024, as well as the International and a major Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament. He suggested these would run concurrently with the summer Olympics, which will next take place in Paris.
Jared Polis
Looking at this article from https://www.politico.com, there are also a lot of US politicians with an interest in video gaming. One of them is Representative Jared Polis, a Democrat from Colorado, who’s claimed “gaming is good” for policymakers.
According to him, the hobby involves critical thinking and strategy — both important skills for lawmakers. He’s also suggested it helps him connect with many of his voters, thanks to them having a shared interest. He’s so open about his love of gaming that he’s even given out his handle to some of his constituents.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
The people’s favorite Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has also publicly gamed — and even live-streamed the event on Twitch. There’s perhaps something particularly special about her involvement, as female gamers have so often been underrepresented in mainstream media.
During the game, Ocasio-Cortez went head-to-head with Ilhan Omar, with https://www.theguardian.com claiming 439,000 viewers tuned in. While it was a rather unusual voter outreach strategy, it achieved what video gaming is so good at: bringing together people from different walks of life and getting them to work together.
In 2022, it’s fair to say gaming is not only bigger and better than ever but also more inclusive. From politicians to Hollywood stars to friends and neighbors, the more people we see partaking, the wider open the door becomes. To us, this can only be seen as a good thing.